I need a Sony Laptop

I posted this in the forum regarding helping me choose a laptop, but didn't get any responses, so I guess my fellow Sony enthusiasts can help me

1) What is your budget?
As high as I guess 1,500 around there. Prefer around 1,300-1,400 though. Trying to cut costs as much as I can, but will not mind spending a little money.


2) What size notebook would you prefer?

Mainstream/Desktop replacement. I want a big screen/big power laptop.


3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.

USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

I want to buy a Vaio that is what I most likely will purchase because I have had a Vaio desktop for such a long time and I have had no problems with it and I love sony. I am open to other suggestions, but I want a Sony, but please recommend anything.

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

No

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

Schoolwork (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), possibly some gaming, editing, internet, movies, mainstream stuff but I need the power.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Both, travel isn't much of a big deal. Will be moving it around campus, etc, but I have the luxury of a dorm.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

Sports (Madden, NBA 2k, etc)

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Don't really mind, obviously prefer something with better battery life, but it's alright.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Seeing

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Windows 7

Screen Specifics

12) Don't know much about this, but I want a big screen that is crystal clear. I hate small screens.


13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?

Don't know much about this either

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

Na

15) When are you buying this laptop?

In a few weeks. As soon as possible

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?

Very long

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?

I was looking at a 640 GB

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?

Blu- Ray would be nice

I was looking at the Sony F series, model VPCF126FM/B from best buy

 

Sounds like F would be one of the better candidates for you.

Its graphics power is not extremely great, but it sounds like it may suffice for your. Look more into this question.

 

Can you guys recommend some laptops for me. I want a high power machine. Is the F series top of the line? Are the specs high power? Are there any other Sony laptops to consider? And in comparison to a Macbook Pro how does the F series compare.


Thanks

I know this is a Sony forum, but I would be open to other laptops, but am leaning toward a Sony. I want the best bang for the buck.

 

The F series is very close to MacBook Pro 15/17 models in terms of specs, except it's a lot cheaper from what I understand (1300~ vs. 2000~).

Although the F series has very poor battery life compared to MBP, but it also has a quad core cpu (more power) in some configs.

 

Any cool features etc from the F series? Any other suggestions as well. What about the Macbook Pro is better than the F series?

 

Well if anything, the F series and the Macbook Pro 15"/17" have the same graphics card the Nvidia GeForce 330M, but with the F series, there's a lot more games you could play on it due to the simple fact that MANY more games(and don't forget much more software!) are written for Windows vs. Mac. Also, the F series is a lot easier to service, you dont need to use Mac RAM modules/etc. And Windows 7 is what Vista should've been, an XP replacement.

 

MacBooks can run Windows OS natively too.

 

What other laptops should I look at and are there any places/sites I can get a good deal on the F series?

 

I think the EC series is a good choice too (I've heard the build quality ain't that good, so you might wanna check that first). It has a bigger screen than the F (16.4' vs 17.3') , and a better graphics card too (GT330M vs MR 5650). Here's a custom one I made in the Sony Style store for 1409.99, just to give you an idea.

* Intel® Core™ i5-540M processor (2.53GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.06GHz (Reg. price $150.00
*Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
*No keyboard skin
*500GB hard disk drive (7200rpm) (Reg. price $100.00)
*8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066 (Reg. price $300.00) *ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 GPU (1GB VRAM)
*Blu-ray Disc™ player/burner
*No Fresh Start
*Adobe Bundle
*Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter
*Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (30 Day Trial)
*No Engraving
*Standard capacity battery

 

^I agree with SomeRandomDude (that sounds strange in my head...) that the EC is worth looking at too.

The EC has a larger screen, and has the best graphis card of any Vaio model at the moment. But it's worth noting that the screen on the EC isn't going to be as crystal clear as the screen on the F, if you go with the full HD screen on the F. The EC is only offered with a 1600x900 resolution max, which isn't going to be as crisp on a 17 inch screen as the 1080 screen on the 16 inch F.

You might also look at the Dell XPS 16.

 

Which one is generally more powerful and cheaper?

 

Are we talking between the EC and F? It's hard to generalize because it totally depends on the components you select. The EC comes with a better GPU that will give you a significant edge over the F in terms of gaming. But you can get an F with a Solid State Drive, which will make it feel fast compared to the EC, regardless of what processor you put in there. The F comes with more powerful processor options (quad cores as opposed to dual cores).

I would say that the F is both more powerful and more expensive than the EC at both the base configuration and the max configuration. The F's big advantage in terms of power is the availability of a solid state drive. But that advantage is tempered by the fact that its GPU is less powerful than the EC's. The EC's GPU might make it a better gaming machine. Even though the F has more powerful processors, in general I don't think you're going to notice much difference between the quad cores on the F and the dual cores on the EC doing the things you'll probably be doing.

In my opinion, the F is more future-proof than the EC in every aspect except the graphics card. The ATI 5650 is just better than the Nvidida 330m, and will do better with more modern games.

 

What do you mean about the F is more future proof than EC? It depends on what are you going to use it for. Obviously, the F isn't so future proof for gaming because it has low graphic card.

 

If you are trying to future proof yourself sony is not the way to go right now. Sony's current offerings are very mediocre at best right now. Aside from the new icore processor the F is pretty much equivalent to the the FW400 series which was released a while ago. The 330m gt is an okay card but hardly future proof and roughly the same as the hd4650 in the FW series. If you are looking for something big bad and powerful with good build quality in your price range I would look at the envy 17 or the asus g73.

 

Um...yes. Did you see that I said the F is more future-proof than the EC "in every aspect except the graphics card?" And that the EC "will do better with more modern games?"

My point is that the EC's big advantage in hardware over the F is the GPU. But the F outclasses the EC in terms of pure hardware in virtually every other category: screen resolution, CPU, HDD (because of the SSD option). I also made the point that the dual core processors aren't necessarily worse than the quad core processors, since the quad cores might be overkill for the op's uses. But if power and lasting a long time is important to the op (which was indicated), then I see the F as ultimately a better option. But it's not perfect, because of that GPU. But the GT 330m is still a good card. It overclocks nicely on the Z at any rate. And I'm thinking in the next few years the expresscard GPU adapters (that let you plug in desktop cards into laptops) will become more prevalent, meaning updating the GPU might become easier than updating CPUs and HDD/SSDs (which traditionally has not been the case).

 

I've ordered an EC one week ago (still wait for it to arrive) in order to create this machine:
- i5-580m (2.6/3.3GHz);
- 8GB RAM;
- 120GB Corsair Force SSD + 500GB HDD;
- ATI 5650 1GB;
- 1920x1080 premium (matte) screen;
- Win 7 pro.
It was $1049 + $105 (8GB on NewEgg) + $215 (the SSD).

Ideally, I was looking for an F but with a slightly bigger screen, and this EC is the closest I can get. 580 or 740... they are almost the same given my computing profile (no rendering, no video encoding, no modern games, just tons of open but idle processes).

Now I have to find a way to connect the SSD (it has the 2nd bay but no cable/connector unless you order it with 2 HDDs), but I'm sure I'll manage.